Opinion | Why Iran Needs To Rediscover Zoroastrianism |
Opinion | Why Iran Needs To Rediscover Zoroastrianism
Dr G Shreekumar Menon
The religion of your ancestors needs to be respected and honoured. Conversion to a different faith does not and should not mean renouncing one’s ancestral faith
Iranians today are literally living inside Panchagni (Sanskrit: पञ्चाग्नि), which translates to “five fires" and refers to a severe Hindu ascetic penance involving four fires surrounding a seeker with the sun as the fifth. Iran finds itself in a Panchagni, battered and bombarded from all directions by missiles and drones. Soon it will be another Gaza, and if nukes are used, it will be “Agni-nakshatram"—a term derived from Sanskrit where “Agni" means “fire" and “Nakshatram" means “star," literally meaning “fiery star."
The United States conducted a test launch of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on 3 March 2026. The missile, often referred to as a “doomsday missile," was unarmed and struck a test target near the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Air Force Command revealed that the missile, carrying two re-entry vehicles, travelled several thousand miles before reaching its planned impact zone near the Marshall Islands in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Even if a crude nuke is deployed by Iran, the consequences for the region can be devastating. The solution for Iran is not in making it into another Gaza or by threatening the use of nukes.
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Iran’s recent history is an oscillation between obscurantist ideology and liberal Westernisation. Before the Islamic revolution, Iran had been ruled by the Shah monarchy, and it was called “Iran," not the “Islamic Republic of Iran." Although freedom was restricted, people enjoyed many amenities and led comfortable lives. The Shah had adopted a Western-oriented secular modernisation, which meant that Western clothing and norms were ingrained into large segments of the Iranian population.
Part of the process of Westernising Iran gave relief to the population from mindless religious fundamentalism. The Shah went about doing this by banning veils in public and enabling women to dress freely. Under the obscurantist Islamic rule now, women bear the brunt of oppression, starting from clothing to education.
The number of executions has also skyrocketed under the present Islamic regime. Currently, Iran is second only to China in the number of executions it carries out—executing hundreds every year, mainly for “murder, armed robbery, drug........